My XK8 gave me a very jerky reaction a month ago. From a stop light I hit the excellerator and the car slammed into gear I got a warning light pulled over turned the car off and restarted the warning was gone. I drove a block or two further then things seemed crazy the car was really jerky and would not accelerate I had no warning lights. Smoke started comming out from under the hood (no wierd smells, no overheat on the gauge.) I parked the car and a few days later checked all the fluid levels and the only fluid low was oil and it was extremly low. There was also a trail of oil from the center of the engine that dripped down to the ground. Until today I assumed the problem was a head gasket but after searching the internet I found that the forward drum/clutch burnsout and a transmission overhaul is necessary. How can I confirm that this is not my problem.

 

Welcome to the forum but I cannot find enough information in your post to comment on your problem. What year? Miles? Any recent repairs/modifications? Where is the engine oil coming from? Check Engine Light on? Codes?

 

1999 xk8 103K miles. Replaced throttle body, ASC Module. No modifications the oil is leaking out of a seam in the middle of the engine on the drivers side. At this time the OBD have no codes, no check engine light, oil is very low and the last oil change was about 2k miles ago and I check the oil about 3 weeks before the incident and it was full. I am pretty sure I am looking at a head gasket problem but I read something about the gear box warning and I did have that warning just before everything went crazy. Is there anyway to check the transmission fluid or verify that I am not having a transmission problem.

 

if it was the transmission, you'd get a gearbox failure I would think...most owners do when that happens. Oil leak sounds bad...jerky tranny sounds bad too...my guess is there is two problems at one time here.

 

I just wanted to let everyone know that I am waiting for some warmer weather to get to the compression tests.